YOUR BUSINESS LAW EXPERTS

ALEX R. HERNANDEZ JR.

Insurance Litigation

Our firm handles insurance litigation issues dealing with insurance policies. When you work hard and pay your premiums and deductibles and the insurance decides not to promptly pay a claim or pay the full value of the claim, you need and attorney to fight the insurance company.

Bad faith insurance claims are made when your insurance company refuses, delays, or reduces the amount of the claim because for them it’s about bottom line, yet for our clients it’s about being made whole.

THIRD PARTY INSURANCE CLAIMS

Insurance companies for third parties also have a duty of good faith toward an injured ­person, or homeowner in the case of property damage, but that duty is much less than the duty owed by your own company. A claim of bad faith against a third party’s insurance company arises only if the company, through its adjuster, has engaged in outright lies or fraud or has ­interfered with your ability to pursue the claim (such as by tampering with a witness, withholding evidence, or the like).

If you believe a third-party insurer has engaged in such outrageous behavior, it’s time to contact an experienced insurance litigation attorney.

ADJUSTER DUTIES IN INSURANCE

An adjuster for your own insurance company is not negotiating in bad faith just because you and the adjuster have a difference of opinion about how much your claim is worth. However, bad faith may exist if the adjuster for your own company has refused to give you any specific reasons for a very low settle­ment offer or has said or done something which might amount to an improper settlement tactic.

Put your bad faith claim in writing, memorialize the adjusters behavior. In a bad faith letter to the insurance com­pany, specifically refer to the conduct of the adjuster that you believe amounts to bad faith. That way you can use the bad faith statute in your favor and try to obtain your attorneys fees as well as treble damages.

SAMPLE WRITING TO INSURANCE COMPANY

This letter concerns the discussions you and I have had over the past several weeks concerning settlement of the claim referenced above. You have made only one offer of settlement in the amount of $X. This offer bears no reasonable relationship to my damages, since my i.e. medical expenses alone total $X., estimate claim value of the property is $X Yet you refuse to provide me with any explanation for your position.

The only conclusion I can come to is that X Insurance Company is refusing to negotiate in good faith.
If no fair and reasonable settlement offer, or ­explanation for the lack of such offer, is made by x, 20xx, I will be forced to take further steps regarding X insurance company’s apparent bad faith.

If you have an insurance litigation issues call our firm today 1-888-HDZ-LAW-8